Sharp County record., 1887-11-03

reading that Whlch Will pfepare hin W
be a merchant prince, and that young
woman is filling her mind with an intelli-
gence that will yet either make her the
chief attraction of Il good mans home, or
give her an independence of character
that will qualify her to build her own
home and maintain it in a happiness
that requires no augmentation from
any of our rougher sex. That young
man or young woman can, by the
right literary and moral improve
ment of the spare ten minutes here or
there in every day, rise head and shoul-
ders in prosperity, and character, and
influence above the loungers who read
nothing or read that which bedwarts' see
all the forests of good American literature
dripping with honey. Why pick up the
honey combs that have in them the fiery
bees which will sting you with an eternal
poison while you taste 1t? One book may
for you or me deci lie every thing for this
world or the next. 1t was turning point
with me when in Wynkoop'S book store,
Syracuse. one day | picked up book
called "The Beauties of Ruskin." 1t was
only book of extracts, but 1T was all
pure honey, and was not satisfied until
had purchased all his works, at that time
expensive beyond an easy capacity to
own them, and what heaven l went
through in reading his "Seven Lamps OF
Architecture" and his "Stones OF
Venice" it is impossible for me to describe
except by saying that it gave me rap
ture for good books, and an everlasting
disgust for decrepit or immoral books that
will last me while my immortal
soul lasts. All around the
Church and the world to-
day there are busy hives of intel
ligence occupied by authors and author
esses from whose pens drip distillation
VIII 'ch is the very nectar of Heaven, and
why will you thrust your rod Of inquisi.
tiyeness into the deathful saccharino of
perdition?
Stimulating liquids also come into the
category Of temptations delicious, but
deathful. You say: 81 can not bear the
taste of Intoxicating liquor, and how any
man can like it is to me an amazement."
Well then, it is no credit to you that YOU
do not take it. Do not brag about your
total abstinence, because it is not from
any principle that you eject alcoholism,
but for the same reason that you reject
certain styles of food-you simply don't
like the taste of them. But multitudes of
people have natural fondneSs for all
kinds of intoxicant. They like it so much
that it makes them smack their lips to
look at it, They are dyspeptic, and they
- he on
noyed by insomnia, and they take it to
produce sleep, or they are troubled, and
they take it to make them oblivious, or
they feel good and the must cele-
brate their hiarity. They begin with
mint juep sucked through two Straws on
the Long Branch piazza and end in the
ditch, taking from jug liquid, half
kerosene and half whisky.
To cure the habit before it comes to its
last stages, various plans were tried in
oldon times. This plan was recommended
in the books. When man wanted to re-
form he put shots or bullets into the cup
or glass of strong drink-one additional
shot or bullet each day, that displaced so
much liquor. Bullet after bullet added
day by day, of course the liquor
became less and less until the bull
lets would entirely fill up the glass and
there was no room for the liquid, and by
that timeit was said the inebriate would
be cured. Whether any one ever was
cured in that way, l know not, but by
long experiment it is found that the only
way is to stop short Off, and when man
does that he needs God to help him. And
there have been more cases than you can
count when God has so helped the man
that he quit forever, and | could count
score of them here to-day, some Of them
pillars in the house of God.
One would suppose that man would
take warning from some Of the ominous
names given to the intoxicants, and stand
off from the devastating influence. You
have noticed, for instance, that some of
the restaurants are called "The Shades"
typical of the fac that it puts mans rep
utaton in the shade, and his morals in the
shade, and his prosperity in the shade,
and his wife and children in the shade, and
his immortal destiny in the shade,
Now, find on some of the liquor signs
in all our cities the words "Oid Crow"
nightly suggestive Of a carcass and the
filthy raven that swoops upon it. sold
Croww Men and women without num-
bers slain of rum, but unbured, and this
evil is pecking at their glazel eyes, and
peckng at their bloated cheeks, and peck.
ing at their destroyed manhood and wom-
anhood, thrusting beak and claw into the
mortal remains of what was once glo.
riously alive, but now morally dead. "Old
Croww But, alas, how many take no
warning. They make me think of Caesar
on his way to assassination, fearing moth
ing; though his statue in the hall crashed
into fragments at his feet and a scroll
containing the names Of the conspirators
was thrust into his hands, yet walking
right on to meet the dagger that was to
take his life.
Furthermore, the gamester's indulgence
must be put in the list of temptations de.
licious but destructive. | have crossed
the ocean eight times, and always one Of
the best rooms has, from morning till late
at night, been given up to gambling prac.
tices. | heard of many men who went on
board with money enough for a Eu-
rOpean excursion who landed with
out money enough to get their bag.
gage up to the hotel or railroad station.
To many there is a complete fascination
in games of hazard, or the risking of money
on possibilities. 1t seems as natural for
them to bet as to eat. Indeed, the hunger
for food iS often OverDOwered with the |